Creating a Steady Stream of Submissions for a Guest Edited Collection: An Exceptional Editor Case Study
Author: Penny Freedman
Serving as an editor takes dedication, time, and passion. Regardless of the discipline, editors can learn a lot from one another’s successes. We asked some of our exceptional editors at Springer Nature to share initiatives that took their publications to new heights. Their stories of success highlight the impact that even a small change can have. Whatever the goal may be, big or small, be it growth, a major change-up, or a refinement of a process, we hope that the stories from our Exceptional Editor Case Study Series will help inspire new ways that editors can help advance their publications.
The Inspiration:
As a Scientific Reports Editorial Board Member she was given the opportunity to lead a Guest Edited Collection. One of her main goals over the last three years has been to deepen her new research line. This provided her the perfect opportunity to contribute to the field. The “Extracellular vesicles in cell biology and medicine” Collection was created.
The goal:
Dr. Ramis hoped that by serving as a Guest Editor she would be able to increase her interaction with other researchers in the field. It was also very important to help establish Scientific Reports as one of the preferred journals to publish studies on EV research in, while staying in line with the requirements of the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles.
The process:
In order to achieve a steady stream of submissions for the Guest Edited Collection, Dr. Ramis first selected 20 potential authors based on their experience in the field. They were invited to contribute to the Collection via e-mail. The call for papers was also announced through some of the societies on extracellular vesicles.
Challenges:
The biggest challenge was finding adequate reviewers for all the manuscripts, and ensuring that the requirements of the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles were met for all the publications included in the Collection.
The Success:
While it required a huge dedication, it was worth the time in the end. Reading through manuscripts allowed Dr. Ramis to stay updated on ongoing research in the field, and deepened her understanding of some of the technical aspects described. So far:
- 62 manuscripts were received
- 26 manuscripts have been accepted
- 18 manuscripts were rejected
One of the most important aspects of the Collection’s success was choosing a highly relevant subject, which has seen an increased number of publications in the last decade from researchers across different disciplines. EV research is a burgeoning field, and helped make the Collection stand out so much that the deadline for submissions was extended three months.
The Collection can be read on nature.com. Dr. Ramis discusses more about it in her editorial, and has highlighted the articles below that represent the diversity of the Collection.
- Application of Extracellular Vesicles on Diagnosics: Comprehensive proteomic profiling of plasma-derived Extracellular Vesicles from dementia with Lewy Bodies patients
- Application of Extracellular Vesicles on therapeutics: Neurons-derived extracellular vesicles promote neural differentiation of ADSCs: a model to prevent peripheral nerve degeneration
- Advances on knowledge on Extracellular Vesicles biology: Assessing the role of surface glycans of extracellular vesicles on cellular uptake
- Methodological tools for Extracellular Vesicles study: A transgenic inducible GFP extracellular-vesicle reporter (TIGER) mouse illuminates neonatal cortical astrocytes as a source of immunomodulatory extracellular vesicles
Author: Penny Freedman
Penny Freedman is a Marketing Manager on the Author Experience & Services team based in the New York office. She works closely on sharing insight and guidance on the benefits and services available to our editors, reviewers, and authors.
